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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  2. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  3. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  4. Have you settled on a ________________?
  5. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  6. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  7. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  8. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  9. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  10. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  11. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  12. There's no middle ________________.
  13. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  17. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  18. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  19. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  20. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  21. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  22. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  23. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  24. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. toast — bread
  2. toast — a drink to someone
  3. wax — in the ear
  4. date — on the calendar
  5. branch — a division
  6. stick — a piece of wood
  7. wax — to grow
  8. stick — to attach or keep to
  9. ground — the earth
  10. bass — low music
  11. stick — a piece of wood
  12. ground — a position
  13. bass — the instrument
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. hand — in cards
  16. branch — of a bank
  17. branch — of a tree
  18. ground — crushed
  19. toast — the most admired
  20. date — on the calendar
  21. hand — help
  22. wax — for sculpting
  23. bass — the fish
  24. date — the fruit

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com